Verse of the Day 1/13

 

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"  English Standard Version (ESV)

 

Our men's Bible study was in John chapter 5 this week and we looked at this passage.  We've been taking a close look at the questions that Jesus' asked in the book of John.  Many of them appear to be simple questions, like the one in today's verse.  The answer should seem obvious, but is it?  Jesus approached the man as a stranger.  The passage reveals that he didn't know that it was Jesus who spoke with him or healed him until after the Jewish leaders questioned him about it, in particular why he had broken the Sabbath.

 

A stranger asks the question "do you want to be healed, made well, be made whole".  It would mean a complete change of life.  He had been this way for decades, being brought to this location, going through the motions day by day along with others with various plights.  I'm sure there were benevolent people and groups that must have provided food, water and other things for them.  What could have been a reaction to Jesus?  I can't, don't you see that I'm crippled?  But Jesus tells him to get up, pick up his mat and go.  He must have felt something and he responds, his body reacts to his thoughts and he is able to get up and walk.

 

Many people attend church on a week by week basis desiring a change in their lives.  They may be brought there or even go on their own but nothing seems to happen.  Others are stirred, but it just doesn't seem to happen them.  The question is for them as well, do you want to be healed, to be made well, to be made spiritually whole?  Week by week Jesus is calling through sermons, messages, and Bible studies to "pick up your mat and go", go do something.  Get involved.  The opportunities are there, what is lacking is the response.

 

The change that occurred within this man would change the course of his life.  He would not be able to, but also have to find a a livelihood, something to do with his life.  What would it be?  What will that change be for some of us?

 

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

John 5:6The Message (MSG)

Even on the Sabbath

5 ^1-6 Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?"